Extremely high pollution levels shrouded eastern China for the second time in two weeks today, forcing airlines in Beijing and elsewhere to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting government warnings for residents to stay indoors. (www.irishexaminer.com) Mehr...

I remember LA in the 50s and 60s.... choking, coughing, brown haze... awful, awful stuff... they make a big deal of the smog in LA now but it's nothing like the past and not even close to China... once spent 4 hours in Xian waiting for the smog to clear enough for take-off... saw a dirty coal power plant in Beijing belching dark brown horrible smoke... would never be allowed to operate in LA in the 50s let alone now.... we should be exporting our pollution technology to China

Me too! I was flying VFR in a Cessna or Piper in the 60's in the L.A. area- I was not yet IFR rated. I remember the smog causing me to be in IMC even though it wasn't called that by ATC. I could see nothing but a hole straight below the plane and had to navigate back to VNY on instruments. ATC was busy because lots of VFR pilots were in the same boat. Brings back not so fond memories!

Maybe we should all consume less. And stop sending our Manu. Needs to coal burning countries. What, do you think by burning it in a windy area it escapes our nasal passages? It still pollutes the atmosphere.In California people on the coast have dust from coal smoke in China.

The interesting part is that this will not get any better with the new airport to the South of Beijing. They are trapped by their topography with mountains to the North and East; without wind it just sits there.

Their only real industrial hope beyond pollution controls is to relocate the worst offenders to the South and Southwest, but they have to find a better source of energy for the homes of Beijing that burn brown coal for heat and cooking. On a cold day every home is belching the brown smoke so characteristic of the smog and without wind, it just sits there. The air is both irritative and allergenic from first hand exposure.

Maybe we should all consume less. And stop sending our Manu. Needs to coal burning countries. What, do you think by burning it in a windy area it escapes our nasal passages? It still pollutes the atmosphere.In California people on the coast have dust from coal smoke in China.

Flying into LAX in 1968, I remember crossing over the ring of mountains surrounding the city. Before crossing, you could just about see every rock and blade of grass. After, well, awful yellow-green smog. What we ARE exporting is our pollution.

wait! I've never said that; never heard it said - EVERYBODY needs to cut back on pollution. China does, we do, other places too. When "we" talk about pollution, we're not talking about only our country.